Sand Castles
Sweetie Belle awoke to the sounds of her sister snoring. She looked around the dark room, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. A single beam of moonlight shone through the open window. A gentle ocean breeze caused the lace curtain to flutter, casting odd shadows against the walls.
In between Rarity’s snoring, Sweetie Belle could hear the waves crashing against the beach below the cottage. The two bedroom cottage her parent’s rented once a year sat on a cliff, over looking the Great Ocean. As much as Sweetie Belle loved going with them, she missed having her own room.
Another gust of wind blew through the window.
Sweetie Belle…
The unicorn filly looked up, only to see the odd shadows dancing on the walls. Rarity continued to snore in the least lady-like manner. Sweetie Belle strained her ears until she could hear only the ocean. The voice she heard had clearly called her name, but had she imagined it?
Letting the blankets fall to the floor, Sweetie Belle approached the window. The floor boards creaked with each step, and she watched her sister for any signs of movement. Rarity remained fast asleep, a large smile across her face from whatever stallion-related fantasy she was engrossed in.
The beach below the cottage was of the purest white sand, and it glistened under the moonlight. The waves rolled in and out, sending mist and foam into the air. Sweetie Belle scanned the beach until she saw a large figure outlined under the moonlight. It was a mare with a long, flowing astral mane.
Sweetie Belle…
Had the mare called her name again? The voice seemed to echo all around the room, coming from no one direction. Sweetie Belle looked to her sister and debated waking her, but knew she would only get mad. Down on the beach, the mare motioned for Sweetie Belle to join her.
The filly watched as the mare turned and began walking up the beach without her. Sweetie Belle couldn’t help her curiosity. She snuck out of the cottage without a sound and descended the rock walk way to the beach. Her hooves sunk into the soft sand and she looked around for the mare. The beach was completely smooth; the water having washed away any hoof prints that had been left.
Come to me, Sweetie Belle…
The voice drifted from out over the waves and danced around Sweetie Belle’s ears. With a final glance up at her parent’s cottage, Sweetie Belle set off up the beach.
Music played on tiny bells seemed to echo around the beach, and the stars above twinkled with every note. Sweetie Belle began trotting along anxiously, trying to catch up to the unknown mare. Something sticking out of the sand in the distance caught Sweetie Belle’s eyes and she ran for it.
After wiping the sand from the object, she found it to be a coin. But it was not an old coin, or one of significant value, it was a one bit coin, likely lost by one of the many tourists that frequented the beach. She let it fall back to the ground and continued onward. The waves drifted up over the sand, swallowing the coin beneath the foam.
At long last, Sweetie Belle could see the mare in the distance, and now she could make out her features. The mare was a unicorn…wait no…a pegasus…an alicorn? Her mane and tail was that of the midnight sky, and her coat was a deep hue of blue. Sweetie Belle knew who this mare was. It was Princess Luna. But what was she doing all the way out here?
Sweetie Belle cautiously approached the princess. With a smile, Luna gave the filly a nod before turning to walk again. Sweetie Belle followed in stride and together they walked beneath the moonlight. The sound of bells began to grow louder and the sound of the waves all but disappeared.
In the distance, a lone sand castle sat, untouched by the tides. It was simple in its construction; a single tower and a flag atop were all it consisted of. Luna stopped before it and stared for a brief moment. She took an hour glass from nowhere and watched as the grains of sand funneled from the top, down to the bottom.
Clouds rolled lazily across the sky and obstructed the moon. Sweetie Belle inched closer to her guide as the beach became dark. The music that had filled the air was suddenly silenced and only the sound of the waves remained. A hole appeared in the clouds and a ray of moonlight shot down directly over the sand castle.
The sand around it began to sift slowly as the castle rose. Suddenly, the whole beach had come to life and the sands sifted as stone towers rose up to the skies. An entire kingdom began to rise from the sands, their structures going higher and higher. The ground shook as the last of the castle was unearthed and a pair of great, wooden doors stood before the two ponies.
Luna and Sweetie Belle took several steps back to allow the doors to open. Golden light and the sounds of celebration emanated out of the castle. Sweetie Belle blinked rapidly to clear her eyes, trying to see if what she was seeing was real. Luna watched as the last sands in her hour glass reached the bottom and she flipped it back over.
Luna then looked to Sweetie Belle with a smile and gave her a gentle push through the doors. Together they walked into the massive castle that housed an entire kingdom. Ponies in archaic robes and gowns greeted them with broad smiles. Mares ran forward presenting fine fabrics and Sweetie Belle’s eyes lit up. The cloth was beautiful, like nothing she’d seen before and she wanted to bring some back to Rarity. She indicated the one she liked most and the mare holding it smiled.
The mare folded it and presented it to Sweetie Belle carefully. After Sweetie Belle took it, the mare held her hooves out expectantly. The filly looked at the mare for a moment, not realizing she wanted payment. The other ponies that had greeted them all crowded around and waited anxiously for Sweetie Belle to pay for the fabric.
When Sweetie Belle realized what the mare wanted, she patted herself down for the money she knew she didn’t have. She turned to the mare apologetically and offered to give the fabric back.
Tears welled up in the mare's eyes as she pushed the fabric back towards Sweetie Belle. She smiled, but her lower lip was quivering as she wiped the tears from her eyes. All at once, she broke down and embraced the mare next to her, sobbing into her shoulder. The crowd dispersed, leaving a confused Sweetie Belle to wonder what she’d done wrong.
“Did I do something wrong?” Sweetie Belle asked Luna.
The alicorn, who had been silent for the duration of the trip, looked down at the filly, a tear in her own eye. “These ponies…they were cursed…very long ago.”
“Cursed?”
Luna nodded as the two walked further into the kingdom. Shops and stalls had been set up along the main street, and vendors displayed their wares excitedly as the two passed. They held out strange silver trinkets, exotic fruits, and several other things Sweetie Belle had never seen before.
“This place only appears once every hundred years, just before midnight,” Luna explained. “The ponies here are unable to leave during this time.”
“But why were they cursed?” Sweetie Belle asked. The vendors of the stalls they had passed jumped into the street with their wares and followed the two as they walked. Eventually, they had a following of close to a hundred ponies.
“Because of their greed,” Luna said quietly.
Sweetie Belle looked at the fabric she’d been given. “They seem so generous though. “
“Time has taught them much, but they are still unable to break the curse.”
“How can they break the curse?”
“You have to buy something.”
Sweetie Belle stopped in her tracks. Everything went quiet as the hundred or so ponies behind her stopped as well. They looked at her with sad eyes as they held their products out toward her. She wanted to apologize, but her mind went back to the bit she’d left on the beach.
“We must be going now, young one, the time is coming to an end,” Luna said, looking at the diminishing amount of sand in her hour glass.
“Will the curse be broken if I buy something for one bit?” Sweetie Belle asked quickly.
“Yes, do you have it here?” Luna asked excitedly.
Sweetie Belle shook her head and said, “I left one on the beach!”
“Well hurry, child!” Luna said. Together, with all the kingdom ponies, they ran back to the entrance. Sweetie Belle kicked up sand as she ran back to where she though she’d first found the coin. She dug her hooves deep into the wet sand and scooped furiously, her eyes scanning for anything shiny.
Within moments, she had a massive trench dug along the edge of the water. Each time a wave passed and filled the hole, Sweetie Belle would scoop out as much of the water and mud as she could. Her mane and coat were completely covered in mud and she began shivering and crying when she couldn’t find the coin.
Luna stood and watched sadly as the last sands in the hourglass began to trickle away. Sweetie Belle wailed out in sorrow, realizing she would never be able to find the coin in time. She ran out of the trench and back to the castle. The ponies of the kingdom stood on the other side of the open door, their hooves up against an invisible wall as they waited anxiously.
The last grain of sand fell through Luna’s hourglass and the doors slowly began closing. Sweetie Belle tried to run through, but Luna put her hoof out to stop her. Together, they watched the ponies of the kingdom turn to walk away, their ears and their tails down in disappointment. The doors slammed shut, sealing them in for another hundred years. The walls of the castle slowly began crumbling apart. The towers collapsed into piles of the fine white sand the beach was composed of.
Sweetie Belle sobbed into Luna’s chest as the kingdom disappeared from the surface once more, leaving only a pile of sand. Something glistened in the sand pile and a one bit coin rolled all the way down to Sweetie Belle’s hoof. She picked it up and looked at it sadly.
“It is not your fault, child,” Luna whispered. “Now let’s get you back.”
Sweetie Belle allowed herself to be hoisted onto Luna’s back and carried back to her parent’s cottage. She listened to the waves roll across the sand and drifted off to sleep.
She awoke the next morning with little memory of the night before. Sunlight streamed into the little room and the sound of gulls rang out from the beach. Had everything been a dream? It must have been, she decided. She rolled out of bed and heard something solid hit the floor. The object rolled under the bed and came to a stop after hitting something soft.
Sweetie Belle got down to look and reached her hoof into the darkness. Her hoof made contact with something metal and she slid a one bit coin out from under the bed. She looked at it and decided it could have come from anywhere. It could have even been in the bed since last summer. Regardless, she held onto it.
Had she looked to see what the coin had hit under the bed, she would have seen the neatly folded fabric—the fabric which she hadn’t paid a single bit for.